Migration Conference

UNE Asia Centre & School of Economics

International Conference

Migrant Labour in Southeast Asia: Needed, Not Wanted

to be held at
Faculty of Economics, Business and Law
The University of New England,
Armidale, Australia
1-3 December 2003

Sponsored by

The Japan Foundation (Asia Center), UNE Asia Centre, School of Economics UNE, Academy of the Humanities in Australia, Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies (CAPSTRANS) University of Wollongong,
Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA)

Draft Programme and Abstracts

Download Conference Second Circular (RTF File)

Download Registration Form (RTF File)

DATES TO REMEMBER:

1 August 2003 Deadline for submission of abstracts (to amessner@metz.une.edu,.au)
30 October 2003 Deadline for registration
30 October 2003 Deadline for receipt of full papers

CONFERENCE THEME:

The cross-border movement of people, consistent with the increased integration of economies and ongoing changes in the international division of labour, forms an essential component of the globalisation process. Yet while trade and financial flows are welcomed by nations, labour flows raise concerns about possible influxes of both documented and illegal migrants, the potential erosion of national sovereignty; and, since September 11, 2001, fears of terrorism. In the third millennium, therefore, barriers have come down and the sharp increase in labour mobility has coincided with official recruitment agencies and private entrepreneurs providing all sorts of services to migrant workers in exchange for fees. This has led to stricter immigration policies and border controls by the state, which in turn have been met with resistance from humanitarian organisations. Migration has thus become a major domestic and international political issue in the region.

Closer international cooperation between countries in the region is seen by many as essential for regulating labour migration and the creation of effective and equitable border control systems. But such cooperation requires an understanding of the origins and nature of labour migration; the economics of migration; and the perpetuation of such migration.

The conference will be structured into thematic sessions that will depend on confirmed papers and current proposed sessions are:

The changing patterns of labour markets/supply and demand within the Asian and Southeast Asian regions in the context of major global problems including economic disparities and structural interdependencies between source and destination countries; poverty; inequality; unemployment; population growth and rural stagnation

Regional and up-dated assessment of migration patterns after the economic crisis in the region

Cooperation between Australia and the Southeast Asian countries on Border Controls and Trafficking